John Brademas

John Brademas is a Rhodes Scholar and believed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a former Congressman from Indiana (58-91) and former chair and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Brademas is chair of American Ditchley Foundation and Trustee Emeritus of the Aspen Institute. His name has been linked with both the Rockefeller Foundation and the RAND Corporation.

Member of the Policy Review Board for Public Agenda Foundation.


 * Director, Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe
 * Trustee, United States-Japan Foundation
 * Trustee, New York University
 * Recipient of the 2001 NED Democracy Service Medal
 * Advisory Board, American Institutions of Democracy

John Brademas is President Emeritus of NYU. He was Chairman of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) between 1993 and 2001 and, "...on January 18, 2001, FERI Board Member Brademas was presented with the NED's 'Democracy Service Medal' in recognition for his years of service on the NED board of directors."

"Prior to serving as NYU's president between 1981 and 1992, FERI board member Brademas was a Congressional representative from South Bend, Indiana for 22 years. According to CURRENT BIOGRAPHY, in October 1976 the former NED (National Endowment for Democracy) Chairman 'acknowledged that he had accepted about $5,000 in campaign funds in 1970, 1972 and 1974 from Park Tong Sun, the Washington party fixture under federal investigation for influence-peddling' in the Koreagate Affair. As NYU's president, FERI Board Member Brademas also was the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a director of the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York Stock Exchange, Scholastic Inc., Loews Corp. (the parent company of Lorillard Tobacco company), RCA/NBC and Texaco."

Taken from: The Nation's NED Connection-part 1 and The Nation's NED Connection--part 2 by Bob Feldman, QuestionsQuestions, 2001.

During the time John Brademas was President of New York University,Laurence Tisch and his brother Preston gave $30 million to New York University to rename University Hospital as Tisch Hospital. (The Tisch brothers own Lorillard Tobacco company, the manufacturer of Kents, Newports and True,among other brands.) When NYU renamed its hospital after the owners of Lorillard, Dr. William Cahan, a distinguished New York surgeon wrote to Brademas, who had defended the donors in a previous letter. Dr. Cahan wrote


 * If the Tischs are as public spirited as you suggest, and if they are sincerely interested in the health and welfare of the community, they

could:1)discontinue Loews'cigarette business; and 2)subsidize youth anti-smoking campaigns. In terms of good being done for the largest numbers, these measures would be unmatched." ---

John Brademas, "President Emeritus of New York University, was NYU President from 1981 to 1992. During that time Dr. Brademas led the transition of NYU from a regional commuter school to a national and international residential research university.  In 1984 he initiated a fundraising campaign that produced a total of $1 billion in ten years.  Said the New York Times, "A Decade and a Billion Dollars Put New York University in [the] First Rank."

"Before coming to New York, Dr. Brademas served as United States Representative in Congress from Indiana's Third District for twenty-two years (1959-81), the last four as House Majority Whip. While in Congress he was a member of the Committee on Education and Labor where he played a leading role in writing most of the Federal legislation enacted during that time concerning schools, colleges and universities; services for the elderly and the handicapped; libraries and museums; the arts and humanities.

From 1994 through 2001, Dr. Brademas served, by appointment of President Clinton, as Chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. He is also Chairman of the American Ditchley Foundation, a Governor of the Ditchley Foundations and is former Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy.

"Co-sponsor of the 1965 legislation creating the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) and the Humanities (NEH), Dr. Brademas for ten years chaired the Congressional subcommittee with jurisdiction over them. He was chief House sponsor of the Arts, Humanities and Cultural Affairs Act; Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act; Museum Services Act; Library Services and Construction Act; National Commission on Libraries and Information Services Act; Education for All Handicapped Children Act; Alcohol and Drug Abuse Education Act; and International Education Act.

"He was also a major co-author of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; the Higher Education Acts of 1972 and 1976, which focused on student aid; and author of the measures creating the National Institute of Education and National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

"He was chief House author of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974, which assured ownership by the Federal government of the tapes and papers of the Nixon Presidency.

"In 1990 he co-chaired the bipartisan Independent Commission, mandated by Congress to review the grant-making procedures of the NEA.

"Dr. Brademas has served on a number of boards and national commissions on subjects ranging from the arts to higher education, foreign policy, jobs and small business, historic documents and records, and science, technology and government.

"He is a founding director of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, headquartered in Salonika, Greece.

"He serves on the boards of Americans for the Arts, Center for National Policy, The Spanish Institute, InsurBanc, Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Loews Corporation, Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), Society for the Preservation of the Greek Heritage and New York University.

"He is a member of the Committee on Economic Development, Council on Foreign Relations, Council on the United States and Spain, U.S.-Japan Foundation and the National and International Advisory Councils of Transparency International, the American-European Community Association (USA) and is a trustee of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

"Former Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Dr. Brademas also served on the boards of The Aspen Institute, Overseers of Harvard, New York Stock Exchange, Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Notre Dame as well as on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and The Trilateral Commission.

"He is a Fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Education (US), the Academy of Athens, National Academy of Education of Argentina and The European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

"In 1983, as president of New York University, Dr. Brademas awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree to His Majesty, King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

"In 1997, in the presence of His Majesty and Queen Sofía of Spain and the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dr. Brademas announced the establishment of the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at New York University. He is President of the Foundation established in Spain to support the Center; His Majesty is Honorary President.

"In 1984 Dr. Brademas received the Annual Gold Medal of The Spanish Institute; in 1993 was named a “Friend of Barcelona” by then Mayor Pasqual Maragall; and in 1997 was decorated by the Minister of Education and Culture of Spain, Esperanza Aguirre, with the Gran Cruz de la Orden de Alfonso X el Sabio.

"Among the other centers established at NYU during Dr. Brademas’ presidency are the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Màrimo, Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and The Center for Japan-U.S. Business & Economic Studies.

"A graduate of Harvard, B.A. magna cum laude and of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar and from which he received his Ph.D., Dr. Brademas has been awarded honorary degrees by 52 colleges and universities, most recently (2003) by Oxford University. He is an Honorary Fellow of Brasenose College, his college at Oxford. He has also received the annual Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

"Born in Mishawaka, Indiana, on March 2, 1927, Dr. Brademas graduated from South Bend Central High School in 1945. He served in the US Navy in 1945-46.  In 1955-56 he was Executive Assistant to Adlai E. Stevenson in charge of research on issues during the 1956 presidential campaign.  Prior to his election to Congress, he was (1957-58) Assistant Professor of Political Science at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana.

"Dr. Brademas is author of Anarcosindicalismo y revolución en España, 1930-37, published in Barcelona by Ariel in 1974; of Washington, D.C. to Washington Square (New York, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986); and, with Lynne P. Brown, of The Politics of Education: Conflict and Consensus on Capitol Hill, published in 1987 by the University of Oklahoma Press.

"He is married to Mary Ellen Brademas, a physician in private practice in New York City."